Expanded metal lath panels are commonly used in the construction industry as a means for supporting plaster or other plastics of high viscosity on a vertical, inclined or horizontal frame. Prior lath panels have varied in construction from a simple wire net to an expanded metal mesh of rigid horizontal surfaces reinforced by a plurality of ribs. The plaster is applied to the mesh which supports the same as a structural unit.
Some improvements have been made in the configuration of such ribs usually limited to certain angular configurations primarily designed to facilitate interlocking the marginal ribs of two adjacent panels and achieving maximum resistance to deflection.
These ribs, though having a variety of lateral diameters and angular configurations, are only as thick as the blank metal sheet stock from which the lath panel was constructed, being the same thickness as any other of the lath panel's components. Though intended for reinforcement, these prior rib configurations have been limited in their success for the aforesaid reason that their thickness is no greater than the panel they were designed to reinforce.
The marginal ribs, being the lateral margin of a thin sheet of metal used to form the lath panels, have sharp edges which commonly can damage the hands and clothing of the worker handling such panels. These thin outer edges are also easily damaged during transport.